Piano with lyric timbre sound board



May 26, 1970 M. TANSKY I PIANO WITH LYRIC TIMBRE SOUND BOARD Filed Sept. 30, 1968 VI w m mT v L ME A H l M ATTORNEYS United States Patent O Int. Cl. Gc 3/06 U.S. Cl. 84-195 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A piano is disclosed having a parallel series of ribs secured to the side of its sound board opposite to the side on which the strings are supported. Each rib has a number of spaced, conical lyric cavities formed in a series that extends substantially the full length of the rib.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 727,774 filed May 9, 1968.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to pianos, and more particularly to a piano having an improved lyric timbre sound board construction.

The sound board of conventional pianos have a bridge for supporting the strings across its inner face. The bridge provides a connection between the source of the sound and the sound board. In addition to supporting the strings, the sound board must be sufficiently flexible to radiate the sound. The manner in which the sound board radiates the sound is a factor in the quality of the tones produced by the instrument.

Pianos have been disclosed in the prior art in which the sound board has been specially constructed, or supplemented by other devices to increase the sound radiating efi'iciency of the sound board. Such prior art is shown in US. Pat. Nos. 1,008,269; 1,611,430; 3,060,783 and 3,312,136.

In general, prior art techniques for improving the tone producing efficiency of piano sound boards have required extensive modification of conventional piano construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiment of the present invention, which will be subsequently described in greater detail, is incorporated in an upright piano having a vertically sup-- ported sound board with the strings of the piano being supported across the inner face of the sound board.

A series of diagonal ribs are mounted on the outer, back side of the sound board in a parallel array that extends between opposite sides of the sound board. Each rib extends between opposite side edges of the sound board, and is secured along its longitudinal edge to the sound board. A plurality of conically shaped cavities are formed along each rib between its ends. It is this arrangement of ribs and the manner in which they are formed with the cavities that provides the sound board with its special lyric timbre toneproducing qualities. When the preferred instrument is played softly in bass clef or treble clef, the lyric timbre sound board blends the vibrations more quickly and powerfully in non-acoustic halls and rooms.

In another embodiment, the invention is illustrated as an improvement in a grand piano in which the ribs are attached in a parallel array on the lower side of the sound board, each rib being formed with a series of conical cavities along its length.

Patented May 26, 1970 The preferred sound board provides a piano with a greater efficiency in producing the finer tones of the instrument as compared to pianos having conventional sound boards. Other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains upon reference to the following detailed description.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The description refers to the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the front side of an upright piano having a sound board built in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the back side of the piano of FIG. 1, showing the ribs and their arrangement on the sound board;

FIG. 3 is a view of the lower side of a grand piano illustrating the manner in which the ribs are mounted on its piano sound board; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing a longitudinal cross section through one of the ribs to illustrate the conical shape of the cavities.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Now referring to the drawing, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an upright piano 10 having a box-like frame 12, and a conventional key board '14 for operating a set of hammers (not shown) that produce sound by striking a set of strings that are mounted within the frame. A wooden sound board 16 closes off the back of the frame 12 and provides means for supporting the strings 18. The sound board 16 is supported adjacent the strings 18 and connected to the strings by a suitable bridge 20 which provides means for transmitting the vibrations from the strings to the sound board such that the sound board can resonate tones produced by the strings. The strings 18 are supported in a vertical array in a plane that is generally parallel to the sound board 16.

Stiffening braces 22 are attached to the sound board 16 and the frame and provide the sound board with sufiicient rigidity to support the strings while allowing it to have sufiicient flexibility to radiate sound energy from the strings to the air.

A plurality of wooden, narrow ribs 24 are attached to the outer side of the sound board, that is on the face on the sound board that is opposite the face to which the strings are supported. The ribs are arranged in a parallel array that extends between opposite sides of the peripheral edges of the sound board, and are preferably spaced at regular intervals. As can best be seen in FIG. 2, the ribs are mounted such that they are diagonal with respect to the sides of the frame such that they form an angle with respect to the strings 18 of the piano. The ribs extend, except where interrupted by the braces 22, continuously from one side of the periphery of the sound board to its opposite side.

Referring to FIG. 4, each rib 24 is formed of wood, and has an inner longitudinal edge attached as by glue to the outer face of the sound board 16, and an outer, longitudinal edge 26 which is parallel to the outer face of the sound board.

The rib 24 has a pair of tapered ends 28, and a series of conical cavities 30 that extend in a continuous series between the tapered ends 28. Each cavity has a conical cross section with its wide end opening into the outer edge 26 of its rib. Each cavity extends a major portion of the thickness of its rib and faces away from the sound board. Preferably the cavities are spaced at regular intervals along the rib 24. It is to be understood that the rib 24, as shown in FIG. 3, has a longitudinal cross section that is generally typical of the cross section of the other ribs, the major difference being in the length of the various ribs. The ribs 24 with the cavities 30 provide the piano 10 with a sound board having lyric timbre quality.

FIG. 3 illustrates the bottom side of a grand piano 100 having a conventional box-like frame 110 and a sound board 112 which closes off the bottom of the frame. The sound board 112 is stiffened by braces 114, 116 and 118 that extend across the face of the sound board between its opposite sides.

A plurality of ribs 120 are attached to the lower face of the sound board 112 in a parallel array that extends between opposite edges of the sound board. The ribs 120 are diagonal with respect to the strings (not shown) which are internally mounted within the frame 110. Each rib 120, like the rib 24 shown in FIG. 3, has a series of cavities 122 formed along substantially its full length. Each cavity 122 is like cavity 30, shown in FIG. 3, with a conically-shaped cross section that extends partially through its rib, and has its open end facing away from the sound board. The ribs 120 are attached to the sound board by a suitable adhesive and provide means for improving the tonal characteristics of the grand piano 100 without a major structural change in the construction of the piano. The ribs 120 provide the grand piano with a sound board having lyric timbre quality in a manner similar to the sound board 16 of the upright piano 10.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a piano having a frame, strings supported on the frame, and a sound board mounted on the frame adjacent the strings such that it is capable of resonating tones produced by the strings, the improvement comprising: a plurality of elongated ribs mounted on the opposite side of the sound board with respect to the strings, each rib having a longitudinal edge secured to the sound board and containing a series of cavities formed along a substantial portion of the ribs length, each cavity being supported to face away from the sound board, and being formed such that it extends only partially through its rib.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which each of the cavities has a similar shape, and the series of 4 cavities associated with each rib extends substantially the full length of its rib.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which each cavity is generally conically shaped in cross section with its larger open end facing away from the sound board.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which the ribs are secured to the sound board in a generally planar arrangement with each rib being parallel to the other ribs.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which the ribs are parallel to one another in array that extends between opposite peripheral sides of the sound board, and are supported at an angle with respect to the strings.

6. In a piano the combination comprising:

(a) a frame;

(b) a sound board mounted on the frame;

(c) strings mounted on one side of the sound board,

and supported by the sound board;

(d) a series of ribs mounted on the opposite side of the sound board with respect to the strings, each rib:

(1) being formed of wood;

(2) being supported in parallel relationship with respect to the other ribs;

(3) being supported in angular relationship to the strings;

(4) having a pair of opposed edges including an inner edge secured to the sound board such that the other outer edge faces away from the sound board; and

(5) having a series of conically shaped cavities along its outer edge at spaced intervals along substantially its full length, each cavity being formed only partially through its rib with its large end opening into the outer edge of the rib.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 243,689 7/1881 Chase 84-494 522,124 6/ 1894 Schleicher 84-195 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, lPrimary Examiner J. F. GONZALES, Assistant Examiner 

